If Only
by Elrond-is-cool
Summary: Marco didn't do the fateful construction site walk with the others. Instead, he did an outing with his dad. How is Marco supposed to cope with not talking to his best friend anymore? And what’s this he found? Please R/R!!! It’s my first Animorphs fic!


A/N: Ok this is my first Animorphs fic, please be gentle. If you see anything wrong, please don't hesitate to correct me. Thank you for reading, I appreciate it!!!  
  
Life is so unfair sometimes, even when you've done nothing to make it mad. I mean, that monster came out of nowhere! I would have beaten him so easily if it hadn't had. Kinda...sorta. Maybe.  
  
"Hah! So much for the 'Master of Games'!" All right, I love Jake like a brother, I really did, but no matter how long I knew him, and no matter how much taller he was then me, there was no way I wasn't getting him back for that remark.  
  
"Oh really?" was all I said while snagging his remaining quarters out of his hands and running as fast as I could in the other the direction.  
  
"Hey! That is so unfair, Marco!" Jake yelled after me as he struggled to catch up.  
  
"As they say, All is fair in love and wa-" The witty comment dies on my lips as I ran into something solid. Something solid, warm, and that made a "ah!" sound as we collided.  
  
"Watch where you're going!" a female voice yelled at me. I looked up at whom I ran into, and saw that it was the almighty Rachel herself.  
  
"Oops, sorry! I thought that you were someone else that I like running into!" I said, almost at a loss of words, but managing to come through with something resembling wit.  
  
"Whatever." Rachel snorted. She stood up and flicked a strand of blond hair behind her ear. I looked behind her and saw that she had managed to drag Cassie on this little mall trip also.  
  
"Hey Cassie." Jake said as he came up beside me. I made a gagging noise that got a laugh from Rachel while only earning a dirty look from Jake. I smiled sheepishly and offered the change in my hand as a peace giving. He swiped it angrily, but was unable to hide the slight upturning of his mouth, proof that he was trying not to smile.  
  
"Are you guys heading home?" Cassie asked, speaking for the first time.  
  
"Yea, I guess we are. Considering that Marco must not have any quarters if he was willing to swap mine." Jake said, shooting another glare in my direction, laughter easily spotted gleaming in his eyes.  
  
"Well, if a certain person wouldn't forget when a certain monster is coming..." I said while nodding my head in Jakes direction. I saw Cassie turn away, hiding a smile while Rachel and Jake just shook their heads.  
  
"I thought that it was you that was missing the monsters." A new voice said. I turned around and spotted unfamiliar dirty blond hair. I smiled an idiotic smile and went along with it.  
  
"Ah, that's just what I *want* you to think." I said quickly, hopping that someone would supply this kids name.  
  
"Hey, Tobias." Jake said, seemingly in answer to my prayers.  
  
"We're heading home, you wanna come?" Rachel asked. I made a small whistle noise to get my point across without getting pound into a pulp. I earned a glare from Rachel and a playful shove from Jake.  
  
"Sure." Tobias replied.  
  
And so, we continued the conversation out of the mall and into the parking lot before walking down the sidewalk towards the construction site where we could take a shortcut to our houses. As we came upon the construction sight, I remembered that I was meeting my dad at a restaurant. It was the first time in a long while that he agreed to come out in public, and I didn't want to miss it for the world.  
  
"...and then there was this poor bangle tiger at the zoo, and he had-" I cut off Cassie before she could finish her story to explain my situation. I shot her an apologetic look and a smile, which she returned wholeheartedly.  
  
"So sorry to say this, but it is unfortunate that you will not have the privilege of my company on this wonderful stroll home." I said in my best news reporter voice.  
  
"What, are you *scared*?" Rachel said with a smirk. The next thing I said whipped the smirk off her face completely.  
  
"I'm meeting my dad for dinner." I said with a small smile, holding my nervousness in check.  
  
"Oh." Was all she said as she shot a what could be called "sheepish look" if this wasn't Rachel at me.  
  
"Well, then we'll see you at school tomorrow." Jake said as he smiled and I ran off into the street, narrowly missing being made into a Marco-pancake.  
  
That was a few months ago.  
  
We still talked back then, Jake and me. Now it seems like we never do. Oh sure, we still say "hi" and talk about the weather, but we hardly ever have fun conversations like we used to. We haven't even gone to the arcade in the mall since then. I don't know what happened that one night while I wasn't there, but it sure has seemed to change him.  
  
He also seems to be hanging out with Rachel and Cassie a lot more, whereas they seem to be standoffish from their friends also. It seems that he talks to them more than we ever did. Another thing I've noticed is that the kid named Tobias takes off the same day that I finally get his name down. Like I said, Life is unfair sometimes. And yet, this was the epiphany of unfair. It was like all my unluckiness got saved for this one moment.  
  
"You can't go?" I asked for the second time.  
  
"Yea, look.. I'm sorry, but something's come up." Jake said darting a glance behind me, to the side, anywhere but my face. This sucked, and today seemed to be going so well, too. My dad had gotten back on his feet and was looking for a job, I had a great breakfast, and a cute girl had even said "hi" to me. But then this, my best buddy that I have known for years, comes up to me and says that he has to cancel the trip to the mountains that we had been planning for more then a year because "something's come up."  
  
"What about all the plans?" I asked softly, looking at the floor. My eyes started to sting and I had to make an effort not to rub them.  
  
"I'm sorry." He said it softly, but it was enough to make me blow up. It was lucky that he had taken me outside to tell me this, or else I might have exploded in front of the whole student body.  
  
"'I'm sorry'?! All you have to say is 'I'm sorry'?! You've been ignoring me for the past few months. Hardly talking to me, hardly even *looking* at me, and you sometimes even act like we've never even met! You weren't there for me when my father tried to kill himself! You weren't there for me when I tried to do the same! And now you come up to me and say, 'I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to cancel the trip that we've been planning for more then a year'?!" I screamed it so loud that I was surprised Mr. Chapman didn't come out to reprehend me. I didn't even notice that I was crying until Jake met my gaze with his startled one. His eyes widened and he muttered the first words that came to his mind without a thought.  
  
"I'm sorry." Was what once again came out of his lips. My tears stopped, by my will or on their own, I don't know, but they did. I smiled an obviously forced smile and said something I wish I never would have.  
  
"I hate you." I only saw the shocked look on his face before I was at a dead run out of the school. I ran so fast that I missed his last words, so fast that stoplights and crosswalks were meaningless. I finally stopped at the place that started it all. The construction site.  
  
"What is it about this place that changed them so much?!" I screamed into the night, my words echoing around me. The construction site had no answers for me, and I just sat down on one of the unfinished walls and thought. I didn't want to cry anymore, it was stupid of me to do it in the first place. I sighed, thinking I should go back and apologize when I saw my watch. It seemed that I had been sitting there for a very long time.  
  
It had only been lunch when Jake decided to tell me the news, and now it was all ready after school. I sighed to myself once more and started to put my head down when something caught my eye. I pulled my head up, and something glinted in the sunlight to the right of me. I looked into the wall and saw something wedged into a crack and thought to myself that there was only one way to describe it.  
  
A blue box.  
  
A/N: Hated it? Slightly fond of it? If so, please hit the review button and review!!! Any response at all. Constructed criticism is cherished and appreciated, but flames are not welcomed. However if you think this story is stupid, and you want to flame me, please just tell me *why* you didn't like it so I could make my future writing more enjoyable. Thank you!!!!!! Please review!!! 


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